The highest density of trash was found in deep-sea caverns, and that trash traveled far: the team found garbage more than 1,200 miles from the shore, with junk showing up in the very remote Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. They also detected garbage in the Cascais Canyon off of Lisbon, Portugal, a region nearly three miles deep.

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The garbage observed included fishing nets, beer cans, food packaging, and even a toilet, though plastic was by far the most prevalent material. That poses a particular hazard, since deep sea creatures often die from mistakenly eating plastic.